John Watson Lived
by Dragonkitty44
Summary: Started as a thought experiment about the possibilities of Eurus not being the bad guy of the last season. What if someone else had been behind it all? Of course, that got off track and resulted in an examination of John's process of healing after TFP.


Note: Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed how Sherlock ended. This is me playing with the idea of "what if Eurus was even less of a villain? What if she was, I don't know, being manipulated or something?" So I changed some things up. Enjoy!

…

In the time following The Incident (as he would come to refer to it) and in an attempt to satisfy his personal confusion, John Watson would spend a lot of time thinking about his interactions with Eurus Holmes, looking for clues. He would think that maybe there had been an eagerness to her 'introduce me?', or a bit too much interest behind how she watched Sherlock as he wandered around 'her' house, high. He would be very certain when recalling her revealing monologue that there was joy in her eyes when she said 'we spent a whole night together. We got chips.'

In the moment, John had been sitting with his therapist who turned out to not be who she said she was. Upon review, knowing her to be his best friend's genius sister who had been locked up from a young age, John would notice things. The real therapist was 'dead in a sack in the vents.' But that wasn't right. Much later, Lestrade would tell him that they had found the owner of that house he had sat in vacationing in Paraguay under a fake name, all expenses paid by a healthy bank account that had _just appeared_. But when Eurus had taken out her color contacts and pulled a gun on him, John had missed what was wrong with that statement. 'In a sack in the vents.' He could hear a voice in his head, one that sounded rather like Sherlock, _Think, John_! It took him months to realize the most significant problem with that statement. If there was a dead body in a sack in the vents there was every chance that the house would have reeked. (Sherlock no doubt would be able to tell him various other reasons why 'body in a sack in the vents' was wrong, but John generally didn't seek out opportunities for his friend to point out everything he had missed.) One night, laying in bed and unable to sleep, John would wonder whether this statement (overtly a lie to those more like her) was some sort of cry for help, a request to the man who saved her brother to save her too. _'There is something wrong here John.' _But no, John missed it. And he missed the other clues that came later, but he can't really be blamed for that. Those weren't meant for him.

John couldn't help but think that she should have just sent a text. (That thought resulted in a small hysterical laugh excepting him. He could certainly see the family resemblance, given that Mycroft had basically raised her.)

Sometimes John still had moments in which he couldn't quite reconcile what he now knew with what had happened. He struggled with the idea that Eurus knew Sherlock would get to him in time, keep him from drowning. Sure, he had seen how much of a genius she was but still, mistakes happen. And how was this the best sequence of events she could come up with? But John tried to stop thinking about it so much when Sherlock interrupted his thinking and blank starring by reciting a synthesis of probably three textbook entries on PTSD and then attempting to _comfort_ him. It was touching, really, but also kind of off-putting. Sherlock was a great (if unusual) friend and offered his own form of support, but this was not it.

So he reached out to Mycroft for a new therapist, one who had been properly vetted and threatened so he knew he should actually talk about all this. He started rebuilding his life, finding a new normal at a new Baker Street. He solved cases with Sherlock, did fill-in work at some clinics when things were relatively peaceful and law-abiding (_how boring!)_ and raised his daughter, with a bit (a lot) of help from Mrs. Hudson, Molly, Lestrade, and the Holmes'. (Rosie was certainly going to have an unconventional childhood, but he would be damned if it wasn't happy, safe, and full of love.) In short, John Watson lived.


End file.
